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London Travel Blog

Trafalgar Square with Nelsons Column and the Christmas Tree donated by Norway (one every year since the end of WWII) - London.

Mostly a driving day today, heading home at the end of our Christmas Market tour. We stopped at a chocolate factory just outside of Calais as well as a hypermarket for those wanting to stock up on cigarette and alcohol. It pays too know your prices - being wine drinkers, we'd checked the prices at places like Sainsburys and Oddbins in London and found that many of the prices at these hypermarkets and not much better, so buying "duty free" does not necessarily save you money. We bought some cheese and bread for our lunch, but the ferry crossing home was much rougher this time - we didn't end up eating much in case in came back to bite us! We were OK, but many people really suffered and the toilets were full of nauseous people trying to hold down their breakfasts! The coach taking us back to Surbiton went into London first to drop people at Victoria Station, so we got a fabulous view of night-time London as we drove along the Embankment - the Houses of Parliament, the London Eye, Tower Bridge were all lit up and looking spectacular.

Ice rink at the Hyde Park Christmas Market, London.

We got home at about 11pm, so after all the delays of the crossing and then having to wait for a coach that missed the ferry, we only ended up getting back an hour later than scheduled.

All in all, the trip was most enjoyable -we had a good mix of people who all got on well, and we saw new places in our travels. You do spend a lot of time on the coach, but we also got more time than we'd anticipated in the various towns, so not too bad. The common currency in France and Germany also made life much easier, not having to change currency was brilliant. Wonder when the UK will go over to the dark side?!!!